Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh by Arunachal2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Arunachal Pradesh is located in a unique geographic location where the Himalayan mountain range takes a sudden 90 degree southward turn. This feature is known as the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis.
To understand why this matters, imagine pushing a carpet into the corner of a room. As long as there's space, the carpet moves forward. But once it reaches the corner, it starts to crumple, fold and bend.
Something similar happens here, except instead of a carpet, it's the Earth's crust.
The mountains in Arunachal Pradesh are more rugged, and deep river valleys formed between steep ridges. For most of history, travelling from one valley to another was extremely difficult. Communities that settled in these valleys remained isolated from each other for centuries. Over time, they developed their own languages, customs, clothing, architecture and traditions.
Today, Arunachal Pradesh is home to more than 25 major tribes, over 100 sub-tribes and dozens of distinct languages and dialects. Much of this extraordinary diversity can be traced back to the geography created by this single bend in the Himalayas.
Geology of Himalaya made Arunachal Pradesh one of the most beautiful and most ethnically diverse place in the world.#science #funfact #geology #funfact #himalayas
Notes & corrections
As always if you see any mistakes in my understanding or explanation please correct me. 🙏🏻 I am trying to raise awareness about scientific and cultural heritage of north east India. On my profile you also find my reels on Nagaland and Meghalaya. Please check them out if you would like to know more about science of north east India !
I have used Wikipedia and official Government of India sources for most graphics. For one of the graphics I have given credit to the original research Reddy et al. (2017).
The rugged terrain of Arunachal Pradesh also makes it the most biodiverse place in India. For its biodiversity Indian government has nominated Namdapha National Park as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the most biodiverse places in the world because of its incredible range of elevations in Arunachal Pradesh thanks to Himalayan Bend. Within a relatively short distance, the landscape rises from tropical rainforest to temperate forests, alpine meadows, and snow-covered mountains. Each elevation has its own climate and ecosystem, allowing thousands of plant and animal species to coexist. This steep environmental gradient, combined with heavy monsoon rainfall and the park's largely undisturbed forests, has created an extraordinary concentration of biodiversity.
References
- Reddy et al. (2017) — credited for one graphic
- Wikipedia and official Government of India sources — most graphics
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